Stylistic Qualities of Swift's Prose in Gulliver's Travels

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What is a Prose Style?

Prose is cooked through sentences and decorated through style. Style, in prose, is the way a writer expresses his ideas through his pen to the readers. To sharpen his style, a writer experiments with the scrutiny of words, the figure of speech, arrangements of sentences and paragraphs and many more. The writing style is related to every lingual element which may help a writer to convey his idea in the best way possible.

Jonathan Swift as a Writer

Jonathan Swift's style in Gulliver's Travels is parodic and biting which pleases and upsets many critics and [contemporary] writers. According to some critics, Swift is regarded as one of the Great prose writers of the English Language. Many popular names like William Deans, Dr. Johnson, T. S. Eliot and Coleridge show their respect for the satirist as the one who writes unmatched prose in the English Language. Surely, there are some reasons behind their admirations. [Let's discover. ]

Swift's Prose is just Simple

After [some] 300 years, Gulliver's Travels is still counted among the top 100 most read books. Such popularity is only blessed with his simple and direct narrative. Swift pens down events as if they actually happened with him. For instance, the example stated below gives the reader an impression about how well Gulliver was served in the land of Lilliput.

I had three hundred cooks to dress my victuals.

Mr. Johnson's prose style was rather fancy but he did not stop to praise the simplicity of Swift's style,

The reader of Swift needs no previous knowledge.

S. T. Coleridge's style was marked with metaphysical beauty but he adopted Swiftian simplicity into his writings. Says he,

Swift style is in its line: the manner is a complete expression of the matter.

Swift abandoned the Prose Style of his Forefathers

When Jonathan Swift initially started writing, he abandoned the showy and pompous style of which his ancestors were the fans of. Indeed, Swift replaced it with lucidity and terseness. Swift can easily and instantly find words which may convey the exact narration to his readers without the hassle of opening reference books. His pointy sentences hit right on the minds of his readers.

Stylistic Qualities of Swift's Prose in Gulliver's Travels

Swift Defines Style as a Proper Arrangement

Jonathan Swift gave the style its definition as thus,

Proper words in proper places.

And his prose is no exception from his definition's standpoint. Swift's selection of words is highly governed by a particular incident so that the sentence may create the exact imprint which that particular situation demands. At times, Swift knowingly ignores grammar to convey his prose correctly and precisely.

Swift's Style Fits to the Tenets of Prose

Mathew Arnold describes the tenets (principles) of a good prose, "unfairly, regularity, precision and balance". Swift's Gulliver Travels follows exactly the same rule to describe the hypocrisy and villainy of a minister to a Houyhnhnm with a striking precision in the following paragraph,

I told him that a first or chief minister of state who was the person I intended to describe, was a creature wholly exempt from over joy and grief, love and hatred, pity and anger; at least make use of no other passions but a violent desire of wealth, power and titles; that he applies his words to all uses, except to the indication of his mind; that he never tells a truth, but with an intent that you should take it for a lie, nor a lie, but with a design that you should take if for a truth.

Swift's Prose Style is a Tale for Kids and a Food of Thought for the Adults

Jonathan Swift's art of narration is characterized by a dual identity of a tale and of a satirical reality. His Gulliver's Travels is a tale of adventures in different remote islands for the children. [Although some scenes should be censored when presented as kids story] It also serves as a satirical caricaturing of humanistic follies and issues of that particular age to the young minds. Manifestly, Swift's narrations carry an apt food to the respective age sufficiently and accurately.

Swift's Prose Style lacks Imagination and Passion

A French critic laments the lack of imagination and passion in Swift's writings as thus,

Swift style lacks eloquence of ideas and sentiments. Eloquence in his sense is mind’s highest reach and widest conquest. It is the creative energy of life itself, manifested on those frontiers which we call variously religion, philosophy and poetry.

Well well, this is just a critical opinion and sometimes, these opinions partially favour the truth which is aimed to reveal. Because the age of Swift was governed by reason, not by emotions.

Conclusion

Swift's prose style is marked with Swiftian precision, simplicity and lucidity. His prose is direct and pointy without any ambiguity or complexity of thoughts or narration.